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On May 17th, skaters on the East Coast put together an outlaw. Here's their report, sent in by the longboarder you may know as "Ton"... Sultans of SpeedA Pennsylvania Outlaw Mason Holden, Anton Milioti, and Ben (96789carver), pushing off in the the very first heat of the day.
First went Ascutney, then Top Challenge, and now Paskapoo. It’s starting to seem that a lot of North America’s great races are beginning to cease to exist, primarily on the East coast. Munnsville is the last sanctioned Downhill race on the east coast. Since we on the East do not have the luxury of many races like the West and Northwest, an outlaw race in the town of West Conshohocken, PA was created: The Sultans of Speed Outlaw.
Nick Harris explaining the rules and proper safety techniques.
The course for the race is in an industrial park that’s virtually dead on the weekends. During the entire race, not a single car went up the hill. Josh Merhar (Drummer Pig), my dad and I got to the hill early, where we met up with the very talented Anthony Flis (longboardertwan). Shortly after, more people showed up and we all exchanged Silverfish names as usual. A small scale swap meet took place and people started taking their practice runs before the rain started coming down. Everyone was just going down the hill having a good time. The infamous Nick Harris (Crappysurfer) was standup sliding his Loaded fish down the hill in his Luchador wrestling mask. That got a few laughs out of some people. Afterwards we had a safety meeting (not that safety meeting!) and then we started the race. Connor leading his first heat in on the Earthwing Mystery Model.
Mason and Nick pulling off some nice pendys before the soaked corner of death.
The way the race worked was everyone was in a heat of 3 people; last person to cross the finish line gets eliminated. After the first few heats, the skies opened up and the rain started coming down hard. People started to get eliminated from just over drifting in the rain or slamming into the curb. It finally came down to the final four, Mason Holden (Dr. Worm), Adam Dabonka (ADsmooth), Connor Schmitt (Jam), and Pat S. Before the tight turn that seemed to make or break the race, Mason was in the lead; however he lost control of his board in the wet, and the board rolled down the hill. That’s when Connor took the lead all the way down to the finish line, winning the first PA outlaw. The final placings were… - Connor Schmitt
- Pat S
- Adam Dabonka
- Mason Holden
Connor passing the finish line and winning the race.
After Connor was given his prize, the police came to bust the event. They were a bit late! So we got all of our things, squeezed the water out of them, them drove over to a nearby garage that is closed to cars on the weekends and has fresh concrete. The praised and almighty Wells was showing us some caspers on his Earthwing Superglider and even launched a Landy Evo off a kicker ramp in the garage! Pretty soon we all got to bomb the garage. You have not lived until you have 20 riders you have never rode with before right next to you in a fast turn in a garage. It’s exhilarating to say the least. People started to say their good byes and walked away with some schawag. Everyone was dinged, damaged, soaked, tired, and stoked! If you really want to grow your own longboard scene, organize a race! I met over 20 people I didn’t even know existed, and the race brought us all together. Our sport is still small and unknown to most people. If we put on more great events like this, I guarantee the sport will grow so much. Start a race, grow the scene, stay safe, and most importantly, have fun. Special thanks to Loaded, Kracked Skulls, and Earthwing. An even bigger special thanks to Mason Holden and Nick Harris for providing so many riders with such a fun-filled day. ---------------  |
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